Our Team

We believe the key to solving complex problems and building robust solutions is leveraging a diversity of experiences and perspectives. We harness the varied skills and backgrounds of our team members from IT consulting, product R&D, innovation incubators, and international development organizations, to ensure we approach problems with open minds and a critical eye. Come meet the amazing people who work at Foci.

Team Members

Dan McCrady - Delivery Executive

Dan has been with Foci since it’s inception, and joined Foci’s management team in early 2018. Dan is intensely inquisitive, seeking to understand everything he possibly can about not just technology, but about every topic he comes across. This thirst for knowledge led him to learn how to program at a very young age. Ever since developing his first choose-your-own-adventure game, Dan has never stopped building code. He’s built everything from Flash games to government licensing portals. If something has a SDK, Dan will probably try to program it.

Despite his highly technology focused background, Dan takes a very business-centric view to developing software. His goal is always to truly understand the business problem before jumping to code. He is constantly challenging assumptions on why something is being done in a particular way to see whether there is a better method to accomplishing the same business outcome.

Hannah Sun - Developer

Hannah’s fascination for technology was cemented in high school when she won a prestigious award for web development. This sparked her imagination into the possibilities of a career in software development and led her to complete a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of Calgary.

Hannah’s inquisitive and methodical nature has translated into an eagerness to ask the extra questions to really understand a problem. She is not afraid to challenge assumptions and is always focused on ensuring that her client’s real needs are met.

Joe Pound - Developer

Like many developers growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, Joe was inspired by his family’s Commodore 64 to one day create software. With degrees in Software Development, Humanities, and Literature, Joe brings a unique perspective and a critical mind to solving problems.

Prior to joining Foci, Joe had developed software for a number of market sectors (Public Service, Consulting, and Product Development). Joe has also worked in Policy and Marketing positions prior to starting his software development career. That varied experience allows Joe excel at bridging the gap that often exists between Business and IT by considering problems from everyone’s perspectives.

Jonathan Cockrem - Developer

Jonathan grew up surrounded by technology. Naturally, he took an interest in both hardware and writing code. Starting with building company websites, he quickly became fascinated with more modern languages and applications. These interests propelled him into roles with Algonquin College’s Applied Research and Innovation Centre, where he delivered projects in the diverse areas of public health, paralegal, and virtual reality.

Jonathan prides himself on his own brand of persistence and openness. He enjoys challenging himself to solve problems creatively. He’s always eager to learn new approaches that could supplement his current skillset.

Jonathan Routliffe - Technical Architect

Over his 25 plus years working in IT, Jon has worked with a large number of platforms and architectures, from mainframe and COBOL to J2EE and Oracle Fusion Middleware. He also brings with him a wealth of experience in a number of technology roles, ranging from software development, to system administration, to managing an application outsourcing team.

Jon is our resident guru of IT operations, infrastructure, and platforms. His curious and methodical nature pushes him to not only learn to work with new platforms, but to squeeze every last ounce of operational efficiency out of their configurations. If we can’t figure out how to automate a particular configuration or the vendor’s documentation is contradictory, we usually call upon Jon to save the day.

Kevin Steele - Delivery Executive

Kevin joined Foci’s management team in early 2017. He brings with him over a decade of experience leading teams and delivering projects in technology consulting, public service, and manufacturing industries.

Kevin has always prided himself on approaching technology challenges from a people-focused perspective. His project delivery approach is anchored in collaboration and the diversity of ideas. He enjoys learning, experimenting, and the exchange of ideas. He uses these interests to challenge initial assumptions and get to the root of his client’s real issues.

These traits have served him well in both his projects and his personal hobbies. When he isn’t pushing himself to learn more about his client’s technology and business problems, he’s often found taking on new physical challenges to test his own endurance.

Maria Reyes Freaner - Developer

Maria discovered her passion for software during the F.I.R.S.T. robotics competition in high school, where she was a part of the very first team to represent her hometown of Sonora, Mexico. Maria spent several years working in the telecommunications sector before joining Foci. She started out in hardware support and worked her way into the software group, with a focus on equipment management applications.

Her prior experience of stepping into older and established code bases has taught Maria the value of good documentation and writing clean and concise code in order to ensure future supportability. She is not intimidated by any challenge put in front of her and applies a methodical research-based approach to solving new problems.

Rabie Almatarneh - Senior Developer

Rabie is one of Foci’s leading developers. When he was first exposed to computers in grade 8, instead of playing games like his friends, he had more fun mastering MS-DOS commands. Rabie brings experiences in both academia and private sectors. He’s published several papers on resource management in wireless communication systems. He has also worked for aerospace and consulting firms prior to joining Foci.

Rabie’s excels at web application development and research, while currently developing his expertise in backend integration platforms. He views each problem as an opportunity: an opportunity to innovate, an opportunity to learn, and an opportunity to adapt to new challenges and environments. He promotes this attitude as a team lead on all of his projects.

Shan Gu - Managing Partner

Shan is the founder of Foci Solutions. He started and grew a number of IT start-ups early in his career during the late 90’s and early 2000’s, before joining one of the top global consulting firms, where he spent the majority of his career working on large technology delivery projects. Shan is also one of the co-founders for The HumanIT Project, a non-profit initiative to help social impact organizations better leverage technology to improve program effectiveness and efficiency.

Shan loves to analyze and solve problems, seeking to understand every detail and challenging every assumption. He has a reputation for asking tough questions. He believes that dancing around issues and beating around the bush will obfuscate the real root causes, and that truly thorough analysis requires frank conversations. For Shan, outcome is everything. All process and technology decisions must be made to support the desired objectives and outcomes, not for the sake of process and technology themselves.

His deeply analytical approach extends beyond just his professional life, but into his hobbies as well. All of his hobbies somehow turn into either scientific experiments or engineering projects: molecular gastronomy, crawling auto racing technical forums, and woodworking.

Stephen Dugas - Delivery Executive

Stephen joined Foci’s management team in 2018. Stephen discovered a passion for understanding how IT can be leveraged to deliver business value during his university years. This led him to participate in regional and global case competitions in pursuit of solving complex business problems.

Stephen now brings with him a decade of delivery experience focused on system integration and migration while working across public service, transportation, and financial services industries. Early on, Stephen noticed the importance of being able to engage audiences at all levels of an organization and has learned to tailor messages to different groups including developers, managers, and C-suite executives. He has built a reputation of being brought in to create order from chaos while staying focused on the desired outcomes.

Stephen’s desire to be versatile and to always learn has extended to his personal life. He has traveled to over 30 countries and has picked up speaking Spanish. He is currently enjoying his biggest adventure yet: being a loving father.

Steve ten Den - Delivery Executive

Steve has always been around technology and software. He wrote his first line of code at 9 years old. At 15, he had written a desktop app to automate his summer job in a mail room that resulted in him being flown around the country to deploy it. He still maintains the same love of technology. He’s always seeking out challenging technical problems to solve and new technologies to play with.

Before joining Foci, Steve has spent 20 plus years working in a number of software startups and on consulting engagements in Government, Healthcare, Insurance, and Banking sectors. He brings with him a wealth of experience working with IT executives to scope and define complex technical solutions. He has an uncanny ability to go from having strategic technology discussions with C-Suite level executives right to writing code and doing code reviews.

Tina Traini - Partner

Tina joined Foci Solutions as a Partner in 2016 and is a co-founder of The HumanIT Project. Tina adds a unique perspective developed through her work with a top-five global consulting firm and, most recently in support of an international development agency’s technology innovation delivery.

Tina’s aptitude for technology and technological innovation come naturally to her. Leveraging these skills, Tina has made a career of helping organizations and businesses understand their needs to intelligently and efficiently plan, build, test and integrate technology solutions and tools. Throughout her career Tina has been recognized for her ability to connect business needs and technical solutions. These abilities include engaging stakeholder management approaches, proactive initiatives, and practical solution introduction methods for both workforce and constituents.

Tina is passionate about new and challenging experiences, professional or otherwise. She’s worked all over the world; founded a musical theatre initiative during university; completed an Ironman; and competes in triathlons throughout North America.

Mike Kelland - Board Member

Mike was the founder and CEO of BoldRadius Solutions, the company which incubated Foci up until its spin-out in 2015. He is a serial entrepreneur, having started over a dozen companies. His most recent success has been the sale of BoldRadius Solutions to Lightbend in 2016. Mike brings his eternal optimism (as demonstrated by his continued passion for camping despite a long history of near-death experiences), a seemingly endless supply of energy, and his extensive network to his role on the Foci board. Mike is also a co-founder of The HumanIT Project.

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About Foci

Foci (pronounced “foh-sahy”) is a mathematical term meaning multiple points of focus. That, in essence, describes how we approach problems. IT problems are complex, extending well beyond the technology and requiring careful consideration of people and processes. We at Foci are experts in identifying all of the factors driving our clients’ problems and maintaining focus on each and every one of them throughout the project.